Musical soulmates, Terminal 5 & Coconuts - The Black Crowes, Terminal 5, New York, NY - October 26, 2013

New York City, specifically Manhattan, has always been an enigma to me – both logically and spiritually. How do so many people fit on such a tiny island? How many yellow cabs can fit in such a small area? How in the name of atheism do you navigate this feat of cartography that would make Lewis and Clark’s heads spin, that we call the New York Subway? Why must every street corner wreak of homeless urine and pizza and/or kebabs?

A trip to New York in 2011 was underwhelming to say the least. I went with a friend, as we wanted to see New York at Christmastime and it was understood that we would have somewhere to stay for free. As a graduate student not having the funds to make my stay in New York as luxurious as I would like, I took this opportunity immediately. The sightseeing was great as was getting to see my bestie Andrea and her equally as awesome husband, Peter. On the downside, the people we were staying with were essentially living amongst filth, bad decisions and illegal substances. Have you ever seen an episode of animal hoarders? People with chickens or cats or rabbits living among them with all of their shit and filth? This is what I felt like for a night. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but SERIOUSLY. This was a 400 square foot 3 bedroom apartment on the east side – already sounds a bit ridiculous doesn’t it? Fairly sure there was the use of illegal white substances AND I got kicked out of 2 places I was sleeping in order for 2 different people to engage in drunk intercourse. Needless to say, the next day I couldn’t get out fast enough.

Also needless to say, this trip left a taste in my mouth of New York similar to vinegar and I was not in a big hurry to head back to New York. So when my music soulmate Kevin moved there and suggested that I come up in October 2013 for a Black Crowes concert, I thought, “OK, this will definitely be better than my last trip, but I’m still somewhat weary.”

Kevin is the frontman of a band formed in South Carolina called Broken Compass Society. He lived in North Carolina for several years after finishing school in South Carolina (where we discovered our mutual love of blues rock and specifically, the Black Crowes). He made the rounds in clubs and venues in North Carolina/South Carolina but decided that in order to properly pursue his music career, he needed to move to a mecca of live music – New York City. So he packed up and took himself and aptly name puppy companion, Morrison, to Manhattan. When we had a South Carolina friend reunion last year in Charleston, SC for Hootie & the Blowfish’s annual reunion show in August, we decided we definitely needed to experience some Black Crowes magic together. So then and there, we bought tickets to the October 26^th show and it was locked in.

 We look antisocial, but really we are just buying Black Crowes tickets - totally acceptable

One of my fav BCS songs, "Falling With You"

Fast forward a couple of months, the time was here for our rock n’ roll weekend. I was excited to discover that a South Carolina friend and Bonnaroo companion, Steven, would also be visiting for our weekend festivities, as well as some other friends who live in New York – Aubrie, Dani, and new friend Renaldo. This was to be a weekend of epic proportions.

I arrived on the Bolt Bus from DC on Friday evening, Kevin and Steven welcoming me with open arms. I felt a tad homeless carrying around all my stuff for the weekend to 2 different bars, but this just makes the ‘vagabond’ label that much more meaningful. Our first stop was a bar at the top of a Hilton hotel in Manhattan with fancy drinks and breathtaking views of the city. This is where we were joined by Dani, Aubrie and friends. We hung out for a bit, caught up, and quickly realized this bar was well above our levels of class. This realization led us to cab back to Kevin’s neighborhood, the East Village, and patronize some of the bars in that neck of the woods. As soon as we entered Spanky & Darla’s, I knew this was my new favorite New York spot – complete with a fantastic southern rock jukebox, cowboy boot decorations hanging from the ceiling and most importantly, a Lemmy (Motorhead lead singer) impersonator (whom also turned out to be an accomplished New York comedian). Next came the ORIGINAL Coyote Ugly bar (ACROSS THE STREET FROM KEVIN!) complete with dancing on the bar and looking tirelessly for that Australian guy in the movie. Finally was Kingston Hall, and yay! Renaldo joined us!

At Spanky & Darla's with Lemmy wannabe

This was the highlight of the night for me because – yes, I said it – they had coconut drinks! They were some kind of rum concoction served in a coconut. Because I’m me, all I cared about was eating the coconut but I was quite frustrated because I couldn’t get at a good angle to eat the coconut. So, LIKE A BOSS, Renaldo smashed the coconut against the brick wall in the bar just so I could go to town on a coconut. What a guy. (See photo below – it’s OK, I know I’m ridiculous). The rest of the night included hanging out on the roof of a local boutique hotel and eating solid late-night pizza.

Coconuts!!!

The next day was quite touristy in nature, as we had the entire day to kill until the Black Crowes rocked the stage. In New York, everything stays open until about 5am, so it is just the norm in New York to stay up that late. After trying that on Friday night, I was in no position to function until about 1pm on Saturday. ‘Breakfast’ consisted of New York bagels in the park near Kevin’s house, where of course there was a dog costume parade taking place. Steven and friends, Kevin and I took the subway to Rockafeller Center to go on the Top of the Rock experience. As someone who isn’t a huge fan of heights, I was way more willing to do this than the Empire State Building option. It had amazing views of the city AND free popcorn! Little victories I suppose. We then wandered through Central Park on to the Museum of Natural History. We also saw one of the sadder things I’ve seen in New York, the cooperative apartment building where John Lennon was shot. Unassuming, but sad nonetheless.

The crew at Top of the Rock

After realizing we couldn’t get into the Whales exhibit at the Natural History museum without paying 30 bucks, Kevin and I began our journey to the West Side to be closer to the show’s venue, Terminal 5. Of all the snooty restaurants in the Upper West Side, Kevin and I ended up in a divey Irish bar where we devoured buffalo wings and watched college football for a bit. Finally it was time to meet up with Kevin’s buddy from home and head over to the show!

At Terminal 5!

The opening band was the Blind Boys of Alabama who, to my joy and surprise, played a fabulous rendition of “Way Down In the Hole”. (For those of you who don’t know, The Wire is my favorite show of all time, and this is the theme song to the show).

Blind Boys of Alabama - Way Down In the Hole

Next it was time to rock. I haven’t been this excited about a concert in a long time, as besides the Eagles, the Black Crowes are my favorite band ever. I love how pure their version of rock n’ roll is and how any time I hear them, it reminds me of good times.

They opened with ‘Under A Mountain’, a great note to start the night off with. The next few songs were a jam sesh of some of their lesser known songs, which to Black Crowes fans everywhere, is the best since they have such a huge anthology of music to choose from. One of my favorite moments in the show was when they played a 20 minute jam of ‘Thorn in My Pride’. Chris Robinson was his usual crazy self, flailing arms and signature dance moves included. The band was tight as ever and sounded fantastic. Most of the show was hard to handle for me (pun most definitely intended), as there was so much musical stimulation, it was a lot. But, this all led up to the encore when I most definitely began to cry – they played one of my favorite Crowes songs ‘We Who See the Deep’ and THEN, most epic of all, they ended the show with the Zeppelin classic ‘Hey Hey What Can I Do’. I’m pretty sure Kevin and I looked at each other and thought we were pretty sure this is what rock heaven must be like.

Black Crowes - Under a Mountain

The Black Crowes show was everything that I wanted it to be and more and cannot wait for the next time – hopefully outdoors in a festival scenario.

Since the show ended around 11pm and this is New York, we still had about 5 hours of partying to do before we hit the hay. My lack of sleep on this particular Saturday does make the details of the evening a little hazy. However, I do remember going to an Irish bar to meet up with everyone and debrief about the show, Kevin getting pretty hammered, and bonding with Renaldo over the most delicious empanadas ever.

The weekend ended with a sleep hangover at a bar before I was to catch my bus back to DC. This was a short trip to New York, but definitely of trip of New York redemption. I even went back a few months later and enjoyed it equally. I had found the formula to a great New York existence – great friends, great music and of course, coconuts.